Baltimore's ACE scholars wrap up an Internet course

Students sent E-mail messages to government officials and competed in an Internet scavenger hunt, wading through a tide of information to locate particular sites or facts.

They were participants in the Academic Champions of Excellence (ACE) program, which is run by Morgan State University. Part of the program included a two-week course on the Internet conducted at the Lattanze Center at Loyola College.

ACE, supported by the Carnegie Foundation and the Maryland State Higher Education Commission, helps students prepare for college and improve their math and science skills.

In the Internet segment, students were creating their own home pages, which will be kept by Loyola for a year. They learned how to access information through 'search engines,' the topic search system.

"These kids are learning a lot," said Ray Allen, who directs the Lattanze Center and coordinated the Internet part of the program through ACE. "It's very important to be computer literate these days and their schools can't teach them all they need to know to start on the Net."

Commenting on the content of the students' E-mail message, Allen said: "They have been very mature. We sent messages to the mayor, the governor and the President. They asked everything, they asked about improving inner city conditions, about crime and wanted to know what the President's favorite sports teams were."